GSM the most popular in America

In the end, the consumer (including myself) could care less what technology we are using, as long as it works for us where and when we need it to, and it does what we need it to. Bobo said it best a few posts up, "However, all this discussion is off-topic. The article is only intended to show the growth of a technology in the Americas, just like HDTV or any other new technology is growing.", so pick what works for you, not what is "in" or what claims to be "the best" I feel the same way about IBM PC's and Mac's, they are both good, and though I and most of my family are PC users, if Mac's did what we needed to better, we would have no qualms about switching, the point being, don't get caught up in the marketing and adverstising hype, you will only lose in the end.

 

I think I actually prefer CDMA. SHocking huh? Not by much, but I feel CDMA handles better in low signal environments. Verizon was pretty good until it dropped a call, however with Cingular, I always hear "You're breaking up", though the call sounds prefectly fine on my end. But, I wanted to get my parent's on a plan cause it would save me a lot of minutes, and save my mother money. She's been spending 30$ a month on Virgin lately, so Cingular was the only way to go. Cheap phones too, which are wonderful: s307 (free), p107 (30$), and we're exchanging our last T616 for a v400 later (free). Can't get a deal like that on Sprint or Verizon.

 

I have noticed that the Nokia 6340i (GAIT) especially has this problem on our local Cingular network. Their TDMA network has had that problem for the past several years and the GSM overlay only made it worst. GSM phones sound normal though not stellar. Anyone have any ideas what's up with that?

 

GSM the most popular in America

I think this is true; Just look at the Number of response to this Post.

 

which phones are those?

 

Cingular probably has more towers than anyone in California. I'm aware of that. They also say to have the largest all digital network in California. Understood.

But you know what, amazingly, there are still so many more areas I can use my Verizon phone down here in So. Cal. than my Cingular phone. Cingular seems to have a strong signal while driving which is important if I break down on the roadways. Cool. But why does in-building penetration still so difficult to uphold? I'm not the small $ 39.99 a month casual user but am a heavy user and spend more money on mobile telephony than I probably should; so if I experience these types of issues on a bigger scale let me be the first to offer my apologies.

I really don't see this equality in coverage everyone talks about, if in building coverage is not addressed. It is politically correct as to not offend someone to say so, but I don't see it. I've been reading some articles with surveys and one of the biggest complaints consumers have about mobile phones is that they can't use them in their house without dropping a call.

It is true that every carrier has their good and bad areas. I travel domestically and am aware of my phone's signal strength when I use them. I can first hand tell you many of the areas Verizon sucks so if you need a list PM me. Sure everyone has the freeway and major highway thing down. No issue here. But if I have to go outside to make a call in a heavily built out Cingular area whether I'd be at the grocery store or in my own home and never have that problem with another, in my opinion they are not equal. I can say I am impressed with Cingular's outdoor coverage in OC even more so than Riverside County as I recently moved here, but my phone still performs poorly indoors.

I'm a reasonable guy. I wouldn't expect Cingular to offer me good in-building coverage in areas they don't offer good outside coverage. That's a given. This is true of all carriers.

I'm holding on to my quad-band GSM phone hoping the AT&T Wireless thing goes through soon and I can be able to use it as reliably as my other phone. Believe me, if I could get the same coverage as Verizon with Cingular I'd gladly pay less per month if given the chance and change my lines over.

Do any of you "in the know," have any idea as to the extent this whole ATTWS buyout will affect users here in So. California? Are we going to see any major improvements in coverage, or will the changes we see here be unnoticeable to the average user? I am aware that nationally there will be some major improvements.

Please no RuPaul, fanboyish, cheerleading comments.

Heads up: For those of you who repeat the same message like a broken record on this forum I already know who you are and what you'd probably say. I know I just stepped on a few toes so for those of you who are overly touchy: "I'm sorry."

Just looking for some honest informative feedback. Any comments?

 

In Southern California you should probably see some major improvements in time as far as building penetration goes. Once you are actually able to use the ATT network, not just time leased from what will be TMO's network, you should see better penetration. The main reason being that ATT controls 850Mhz spectrum in just about all of California. Currently, Cingular/T-Mobile has an entirely PCS network. As we all know, building penetration is significantly easier to achieve on the cellband, so I really do think that once ATT is being run by people who aren't idiots and 850 GSM is launched fully and properly, you will see a significant improvement. Granted, this will not happen overnight.

The big advantage Verizon enjoys nationally in terms of coverage is largely due to the fact that they are made up of the smaller regional carriers like AirTouch, GTE and Bell Atlantic who were early carriers who controlled cellband spectrum in virtually all the markets they served. Verizon gets better building penetration because of this. This isn't to say that you can't build a great PCS network (ATT building penetration is DC is great) but it is much easier to build a cellular network with better penetration. In the markets where Verizon does not have cellular spectrum, they are much weaker, usually weaker than PCS carriers in the same markets. For example several markets recently discussed here are Milwaukee, Charlottesville and Miami. So I would say that Verizon has "better coverage" because they have better spectrum, not because they are a better run company.

As for the closing of a "coverage gap", I really do believe I have seen significant improvements in the DC area, although I can't really speak for anywhere else. I really can't think of a single place where I have been unable to use my Cingular phone or ATT blackberry and my son has been able to use his Verizon phone, including indoors. There are places (like our health club and house) where ATT has much better building penetration than Verizon, and places (like CVS and the ice rink) where Verizon beats ATT or Cingular, but I really don't see Verizon being systematically better indoors in this market (with the exception of the subway). I understand that in a lot of places, Verizon still enjoys a tremendous advantage over PCS carriers, but this gap is closing and will continue to close (especially once new Cingular controls cellular spectrum in most markets). Verizon has some issues of its own though. I know some people have no problems, but in the DC area the network is well over capacity. I have spoken with the "system performance group" about my sons phone taking 40 seconds to make calls and they readily admit they have capacity issues and are "developing ways to resolve them". It is my understanding from I guy I know in passing who is an RF engineer that the network is considered to be about 15-20% over capacity in the DC market. This is the case in several other large markets that Verizon serves, like Philadelphia and Boston (although it does not appear to have impaced New York....yet).

 

Motorola v300 and V400

Nokia 33xx, and 36xx

Most higher end samsungs.

:biggrin:

 

I agree, with those that think it is the phone that entices the user. Most people would not know the difference between digital and analog.

 

GSM has a SIM Card which other Cell Technologies don't have which nakes switching phones easy. Plus their coverage are getting to be as extensive as any other carrier.